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2012 May 22 |
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http://www.theatlanticright.com/2010/03/30/reason-4815162342-of-why-im-neither-a-republican-nor-a-democrat/
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  |   21 comments

Over at Pajamas Media, readers were asked which event they would be more comfortable attending: A Tea Party Rally in Searchlight, Nevada.  Or an anti-war rally in Los Angeles, California.  As is typically which such posts, a series of images are posted showcasing each rally.  And as is the case with each, usually only the worst are showcased, in order to make that oh-so-necessary political point.

By looking at those pictures, it is clear which rally I’d like to attend.  Maybe it’s because I have more of an affinity for conservative causes these days than I used to in my formative years.  Maybe it’s because those pictures with Sarah Palin and Hannah Giles framed against a blue sky and two American flags are quite beautiful.  I don’t know.

Despite all this, I find myself saying, “Not you guys, too!”  Hey, remember last year when a bunch of liberal websites were framing the Tea Party rallies as the radical ones?  You know, like this one at Kos?  Or this one at Think Progress?

Yea, I can collect a bunch of the worst pictures from a rally and post them on the Internet, too.  But I don’t…   Because you know what?  For every person holding an Obama or Bush is Hitler poster, I’ll bet I can find a whole group protesting peacefully without any name calling or racial slurs.  I just find it petty of either side when they post these pictures to try and score political points.

And you know what?  It’s not even trying to score political points, anymore.  It’s become a circular discussion of which side has the worst behavior.  A political version of “No, you are!” “No, you are!”

My suggestion to both sides: Wise up and stop acting childish, please.

  1. Posted by Guest
    | Quote | Trackback | Link #110302 ›
    Guest You are off-base in your criticism: see the comment posted by the photographer of the L.A. rally, "Ringo," who says, "I post too many pictures so that I won’t be accused of posting only 2 or 3 egregious images and misrepresenting the overall tone of the demonstration. That’s why I always post more than a hundred pictures. That way people can see that what I show is representative of the protest as a whole." Also see other coverage of the anti-war rallies at http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2010/03/sto... http://zombietime.com/sf_anti-war_rally_3-20-2010... and http://www.ringospictures.com/index.php?page=2010... . The point is inescapable that pretty much the entirety of these anti-war rallies are as extreme as the photos suggest: Combine those three reports and you have hundreds and hundreds of photos documenting what goes on, and it's pretty much impossible to find a single protester or sign that ISN'T extreme in some way. Meanwhile, over in Searchlight, one would be hard-pressed to find any extremism at all. If, as you claim, you can find whole groups of left-wing anti-war protesters from March 20 acting normal and peaceful, please post the photos. Otherwise, your claim doesn't hold water. And those reports from last year at Kos and ThinkProgress were themselves merely copycat posts trying to imitate what neo-con blogs had been doing extensively since 2001, which is to show the extremism of left-wing rallies. When the administration switched sides in 2009, for the first time there were large conservative rallies, so for the first time the leftist blogs tried the same tactic, with much less convincing evidence. The purpose of any public political rally is to "score political points," so it's perfectly valid to use the evidence of that rally's true nature to undermine its intended message. It's a continuous battle of hoisting by petards, but since the Left more frequently embarrasses itself by taking to the streets, its petard is more frequently hoisted. And, frankly, they deserve it.
  2. Posted by Patrick Glenn
    | Quote | Trackback | Link #110315 ›
    Patrick Glenn Along the lines of David Swindle's posts on books (and experiences) that change us, my experiences in attending a couple of leftist protests during the first Gulf War, as a young left-leaning college kid, started to open my eyes to the true nature of the left. It's not necessary to cherry pick the photos. Anyone who has been to a handful of events/protests from both sides knows that the leftist versions tend to exhibit more hateful, unhinged mentalities. Have some people on the right used selective editing to further exagerrate that tendency? Certainly. But the hard leftists really don't need much help to look crazy.
  3. Posted by Evil
    | Quote | Trackback | Link #110322 ›
    Evil "Along the lines of David Swindle's posts on books (and experiences) that change us, my experiences in attending a couple of leftist protests during the first Gulf War, as a young left-leaning college kid, started to open my eyes to the true nature of the left. " Going to a few rallies makes you an expert on the True Nature of the LEFT, now does it? Please. I don't have my wisdom teeth yet, and I can see that such fieldwork and study is not enough to reveal the true nature of anything to a man. "Anyone who has been to a handful of events/protests from both sides knows that the leftist versions tend to exhibit more hateful, unhinged mentalities. " I have never been to any kind of organized protest or event of a political nature and I am still going to not only dispute your pretty horrendous and vile accusation but dismiss it flat-out. You have nothing to back up what you say. What you say here completely lack worth and cannot advance any ambitious human beings' mind further. Do you never exercise due diligence? Can you not pace yourself on a basic level? I must ask this of you.
    • Michael_Merritt "I don't have as much evidence as you" doesn't seem to be a great argument for your point.
      • Posted by Evil
        | Quote | Trackback | Link #110331 ›
        Evil When we are smearing millions of people we have never met, then there *is* no such thing as evidence. My argument is that trying to make points at this level and in this venue is very inane. There is no reason anyone with a skeptical faculty should even consider the idea that anyone here can just foppishly wave a hand and say which side is more hateful. I am unimpressed, in the literal sense - Glenn's attempt to get away with some self-satisfied common-sensical review of the entire left as more hateful did not even make an impact. My mind has shields against BB projectiles like that - they are so small and weightless that they glance off the surface of my mind without making an imprint. This is a good thing. Mr. Merritt, if I were to say that right-wingers in general have "more hateful, unhinged mentalities" or some other ridiculously arrogant gobbledygook (I hope that I never become so proud and phony as to make insane statements like that anyway, no matter how many years in the armchair I accumulate to my "credit") then my statement would be no more *useless* to a thinking, critical man than any statement you or Glenn could make about an equally large, nebulous target. Get this - on this subject, you and Glenn have, statistically, as much credibility and authority as I have. You will *never* have enough study or data under your belt to credibly make any statement about which side exhibits which qualities more, when the sides/movements are large enough. I do not have to take any statements like that seriously. If I wanted pithy, petty and arrogant sophistry about what the "left" or the "right" is or which side is more [adjective], I would read one of those anonymous, incredibly academic and intellectual journals with carton edges from 1992 that flood the average library. If I see it on the internet I will just point out that such Western quips about millions-large collects of people are so damnably stupid they give people cancer. *No one cares about what any of us has to say about these dauntingly huge political movements, based on what blogs/books/magazines we have read in our narrow, biased lives. Or, for that matter, based on how our delicate sensibilities were offended by what parade of people with placards and slogans. This is a good thing.*
        • Michael_Merritt Not entirely sure we disagree all that much, to an extent. The whole reason I wrote this article was to make the point that posting up a few pictures from a rally is alone not sufficient evidence of which ideology is worse than the other. That said, when taken along with other things I've seen, such as the general style of debate favored by the left (making things personal, name calling, etc), I do think they are, at minimum, the slightly worse ideology. Not always, of course. I've run into enough liberals with a calm enough demeanor, and a taste for decorum. Nor does the right have a monopoly on the politics of civility. Karl Rove and co. showed us that for eight years. But in general, the left does have a more hateful ideology, even if it isn't that significantly worse than the right (I have yet to settle my opinion on that matter).
          • Posted by Evil
            | Quote | Trackback | Link #110351 ›
            Evil "But in general, the left does have a more hateful ideology" Rest assured, you will never be able to convince an extremely intelligent and mentally ambitious person of that in your lifetime (not that I am even close to one).
          • Michael_Merritt I don't know about that. Much of our readership I'd consider intelligent and mentally ambitious, and many of them believe this. I believe it as well, though perhaps I don't consider as bad as they do.
        • Posted by Interested
          | Quote | Trackback | Link #110337 ›
          Interested why then, should anyone take you seriously.
    • Posted by Patrick Glenn
      | Quote | Trackback | Link #110326 ›
      Patrick Glenn First of all, I wrote that attending leftist protests when I was younger STARTED to open my eyes to the true nature of the left. In other words, that was the begining of gaining a greater awareness. Therefore I was not suggesting, as you claim, that "going to a few rallies" made me an expert at thta point. Do I need to further clarify these logical steps for you? Since then, I have become much more acquainted with the left through lectures, books, articles, personal experiences, and so forth. Does that make me an expert on the left? I don't know about that, but I'd take my chances against 99 percent of the population. Besides, if you think it would be shoddy "fieldwork," "horrendous," "vile," etc., to give my perspectives on left wing protests based on actually observing about a dozen of them, how much value should I assign to your kneejerk emotional "critique" of my perspectives, seeing as you've never observed a single protest?
      • Posted by Interested
        | Quote | Trackback | Link #110338 ›
        Interested As they say, you do not have to be a marketing major to know what is or is not a good Advertisement, you just have to be the consumer.
  4. Posted by Patrick Glenn
    | Quote | Trackback | Link #110328 ›
    Patrick Glenn As for not backing up what I say here, come back at me with logical, coherent criticisms and some FACTS of your own and then maybe you can expose me for the lackluster analyst that you think I am. I don't really care if you get annoyed or offended by things that I write, but I'll probably give you more of a hearing than you'd going to get from most people on the right side of the spectum. But you'll have to engage the issues instead of throwing your ball down and going home, or else it's a waste of my time. I don't care if you call me names, but spare me tizzy fit.
  5. Posted by Ringo
    | Quote | Trackback | Link #110339 ›
    Ringo My website has crashed a few times today, but when it's up again (hopefully later tonight) go and see the hundreds upon hundreds of pictures that I have compiled of Left-wing demonstrations over the past 6 years. I challenge anyone to find a similar degree of lunacy at tea parties. BTW - Also see my tea party pictures. ringospictures.com
    • Posted by Interested
      | Quote | Trackback | Link #110344 ›
      Interested Doubt you'd find it. Breitbart offered 100K for proof of the Capitol Hill protesters using of the "N" word at the CBC. He hasn't paid it out. But more great news for 2010. More American's view the Tea Parties favorably than unfavorably. That combined with OB's declining numbers and the record setting Democrat lead Congress.
  6. Posted by Chuck Norton
    | Quote | Trackback | Link #110343 ›
    Chuck Norton Thanks Ringo.
  7. Posted by Interested
    | Quote | Trackback | Link #110345 ›
    Interested make that 10k not 100k
  8. Posted by nicrivera
    | Quote | Trackback | Link #110421 ›
    nicrivera Wow. I cannot believe the amount of anger that is being directed towards Michael. I don't always agree with Michael, but he's one of the most reasonable and balanced bloggers that I've come across. Some people might even argue that his views tend to lean slightly conservative. Yet all of the anger that has been directed towards him seems to be coming from conservative-leaning commenters. There's no question that both antiwar rallies and Tea Party rallies have had their share of protesters spewing hatred and disinformation. But it is extremely disingenous and hypocritical for partisan Democrats to denounce the entire Tea Party movement based upon the views of minority of their members just as it was extremely disingenuous and hypocritical for partisan Republicans to denounce the entire antiwar movement based upon a minority of its members. Keep up the good work, Michael. I can only hope that you find the angry partisan reponses to your post as amusing as I do.
    • Michael_Merritt Don't really sense anger here, nic. People are welcome to disagree with me without being disagreeable, and that's all I see here so far. I welcome a challenge to whatever I post here, from anyone, conservative or liberal. Which reminds me...have some rebutting to do to a couple of the above.
    • Posted by Interested
      | Quote | Trackback | Link #110425 ›
      Interested what are you reading nicrivera? The only 2 comments here that disagree with Michael are guest and evil - neither of which are Conservatives by anybody's stretch of imagination. Besides that, why must anyone who identifies themselves as either Conservative or Liberal follow lock-step with fellow Conservatives or Liberals?
  9. Pingback | Link #110424 ›
    PoliGazette » Commenters: Show Us Proof of Peaceful Liberal Protesters. Me: Okay! [...] my article earlier this week ranting about how both liberals and conservatives have a tendency to post the worst photos of each other’s protests, I made the mistake of saying the following: Yea, I can collect a bunch of the worst pictures from [...]
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